


A Home Away From Home

by Quartzling



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Christmas, Homesickness, M/M, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-13 20:33:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9141178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quartzling/pseuds/Quartzling
Summary: A fic about Lance and Keith talking about their families, mutual pining, and blushing, lots of blushing.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a gift for: https://larasartstuff.tumblr.com/! Also constructive criticism is very welcome, I'm still very new to this romance writing stuff.

The stars are endless, as always. When I look out, and see them stretching out for millions upon millions of miles, I can’t help but feel lonely. The six months I’ve been up here, have been extraordinary, and yet, I still feel homesick from time to time, now more than ever.

\--

I come across him, sitting by a tall, curved window, that stretches up to the castle roof. It’s quite a sight, the innumerable stars all accompanied by his small huddled form.

\--

Steps echo, heading in my direction. I don’t bother turning around, sure that they’ll pass without noticing me. But they stop, and after a few moments, I turn, to see Keith, of all people, watching me.

\--

We’ve never quite got along. I didn’t know Lance very well at the Garrison, and since encountering him, while attempting to rescue Shiro, he’s held some notion, that we’re some sort of rivals.

\--

He just stares at me, and I stare right back. Clearly, neither of us is quite sure what to do in this situation. After a bit, he walks over, and takes a seat on the floor beside me. More time passes, and still, no one has spoken.

\--

“If Pidge’s calendar’s still on track, then it must be Christmas back home.” Lance’s voice surprises me, it’s a little vulnerable, almost as if he’s biting back tears.

I’ve all but lost track of time in space, and without the winter chill and snow, it just doesn’t feel too festive. Not that I’ve ever been one for winter holidays, my parent’s didn’t celebrate growing up, and any effort they put forth during this season, was always for my sake.

With them gone, I’ve lost pretty much any interest in the holiday. But, Lance. He hasn’t told me much about his family, but it’s quite plain that he misses them. I’ve overheard him telling stories about his siblings and his childhood to Pidge and Hunk, he always seemed so happy, so relaxed, as he recounted.

\--

I glance at Keith, curious as to why he’s yet to respond, and find him, deep in thought. We sit there, me, silently studying him, he, buried somewhere in his mind.

Then he startles, and notices me staring at him. With an awkward smile, and an equally awkward shrug, he finally replies, “Sorry about that, I was thinking about something.”

I look away, my eyes returning to the window, and the stars beyond it. “Does your family celebrate Christmas?” I ask without thinking, and immediately regret it. Keith hasn’t told us much about his family, but we know enough, to know, that they're no longer around.

I begin to backtrack when he interrupts me, “My parent’s weren’t too big on Christmas, and neither was I, but we always exchanged gifts around that time...”

\--

Longing fills my chest. Every single day since losing them, I've thought of them a little less. Though I’ll always carry them around, in my heart, entwined with my soul. It is not the heavy burden I feared, in a way it's a sense of relief, knowing I'll never forget them.

A tear carves its way down my cheek. I feel it's slight pressure against my skin, the cool path it leaves in its wake. It is neither born distinctly from sadness nor happiness, rather a muddle of emotions somewhere in between.

In a way I am happy. Happy to be, for once, surrounded by friends at this time of year. It’s been a long time since Christmas wasn’t a hollow reminder of what I’ve lost.

But this happiness is not unaccompanied. The paladins, along with Allura and Coran, have become a family. A mismatched family, not a typical one by the traditional definitions, but a family all the same. And this family, this wonderful, unbridled euphoria of family, has dredged up emotions that had long faded, embers that had slowly been smothered by loneliness and the forgetting of familial love.

The irony it is, to gain, only to feel loss once more.

\--

I reach out a hand, with the intent to comfort him, to let him cry, to let him release. But I hesitate, with my hand outstretched, hanging in the rigid air, halfway between him and me, afraid to cross the unspoken boundary between the two of us.

If this were Pidge, Hunk, or maybe even Shiro, I wouldn’t hesitate, but Keith. He’s always been so closed off, and we’ve never really gotten along, I can’t help but wonder if, if he’d want my sympathies.

However, as the tears continue to drip their way down his face, I just act, thinking be damned. Slowly, tentatively, I wrap an arm around his shoulders.

\--

His arm is compellingly warm, and whether by choice or subconsciously, I lean further into the lopsided embrace. I get the sense I’ve surprised him, but at this moment I don’t particularly care.

After some time I break the silence. “What about your family?” I ask, partially because it’s the polite thing to do, the correct thing to do, but mostly because, admittedly, I’m curious.

Lance gives me a puzzled look. “You know, for Christmas?” I elaborate.

His smile is instantaneous, it’s spreads, bright and buoyant, across his face. A warmth suddenly fills my chest, almost as if a small bit of sunshine has somehow trapped itself there, tucked neatly into my ribcage.

“My entire family gets together,” he begins. “My immediate family is already quite large, and to add in all my aunts, uncles, and cousin… Well,” he laughs, “Let’s just say, the house, is always fit to burst around this time of year.”

He’s words drift off, as homesickness rolls in, like a bad storm. He slides his arm from my shoulders and gestures to the stars, “Some Christmases, when the night sky is clear enough, we go out and lie in the grass, and observe the stars.” His arm falls down by his side, and I can’t help but mourn the loss of his embrace a little, a small part of me desperately wants his arm wrapped around my shoulders again.

\--

Now that my arm is once again by my side, I regret it. Oddly enough, I want to wrap it around his shoulders again, but that would be weird.

\--

“Your family, you’re very close aren’t you?” It comes out a half formed thought, an observation, not even really a question, though my tone, I realize, implies otherwise.

He turns to me, a soft smile curving his lips, a dreamy far away look gleaming in his eyes. A slight heat rises in my cheek, and a deafening, frantic heartbeat fills my ears. I try my best to ignore it, to push it away, but it drags me in, this feeling drags me in. It can’t be ignored, it refuses to be ignored, no matter how desperately I wish it to be.

The emotions, there’s a sense of deja vu almost. My mind ruffles around, suffering from mental lethologica, until it hits me. Sixth grade, that particular green eyed, brown haired boy. Fumbling words, blushing. Crush.

As it registers, an intense heat flares on my face. Perhaps, subconsciously, I’d known, known for awhile, just refused to admit it.

“We are quite close,” Lance’s voice pulls me from the muddled mess of my thoughts. It’s a momentary relief, until, I see his face, and my newly discovered infatuation causes my cheeks to burn even more vehemently.

“I miss them so much... “ he trails off. “But you know, in a way, this, we’ve” he gestures around him, “We’ve become a family.”

His words make me oddly happy, it’s a nice thing to know that I’m not the only one who feels that way.

\--

The happiness that spreads across his face is contiguous, it gives me the odd sense, the peculiar desire to bring this happiness to him as often as possible.

\--

I come across them sitting side by side in one of the multitudinous empty rooms. “What are you two doing, it took me ages to find you,” I complain. They both turn around quickly, surprised to find me there, exactly what I was expecting, the bright red faces though, are completely unexpected.

Lance recovers first, “Hey Pidge, whatcha need?”

“You’re needed on the training deck. We’ll be looking at the attack plan for next week’s mission in a bit, Shiro sent me to fetch you.” After getting their assurances that they’ll be there, I turn to leave. Those two dense idiots. You’d think Lance would at least be able to tell, maybe I’ll have to look into finding some space mistletoe.

 


End file.
